Arwick (A Light Of Roria Sequel)

Chapter Twelve

Staci

"John!" Jake shouted, drawing our attention to John's cell, who was finally coming to.

John sat up sluggishly with a slow hand rising to rub his forehead. Opening his eye, the other was swollen shut, he looked around, trying to find us.

"John, we're over here," I said, waving my hand to grab his attention. He smacked his lips together before touching his throat.

"I need...water," he croaked.

"They leave it in a bowl on the floor. It's in the corner of your cell because here we're reduced to cows," I spat with my eyes facing one of the guards.

John turned to the water before he crawled to reach it. I cringed watching him gulp down what was probably the equivalent of filthy toilet water. By the looks of our own water, it had been sitting there collecting dust, grime, and who knows what else for quite a while, and I doubted his was any better. John gasped for air, pressing himself against the stone wall. "Did she survive the first fight?" he asked, forgetting about his own misery and focusing on Addisyn instead.

"Yes. She is alive," Elijah started out. His mouth formed a side grin while his hand rested on his heart. "Filled with worry, but her concern is more for us than for herself."

Jake looked to Elijah, raising his brow. "That's strangely specific. All of a sudden, you just know what she feels?"

I nodded, finding Elijah's words as bizarre as Jake had.

Elijah smiled softly, looking at each of us, before facing John last. "Yes. I can indeed."

John smirked, clearly catching on to what Jake and I were still at a loss for. "How?" I asked.

"She must have reached out to divinity, and it revealed we are one flesh, as it had already done for me," he told us, talking quietly.

"The thing John told us about mine and Addisyn's real mom and dad?" I somewhat recalled.

"Divinity has designed everything you see," he started out. "Through its mighty breath of wind, all manner of life and worlds were created, and divinity has always had every detail in mind, including our own destiny. One flesh was divinity's magnificent creation for us to experience the purest of love through another."

Jake looked skeptical. "So let me get this straight," he started out. "You and Addisyn are now destined to be together?" Jake smiled before nodding sarcastically. "Wow, how beautiful."

Jake's sarcasm didn't seem to shake Elijah. He was sure of himself. "Divinity is truth," he started out. "You doubt what has given you the grace gift to wield a sword the way you have?"

Jake waved off his words. "I don't doubt divinity, okay, man?" he said in a hushed yell. "I just think you're romanticizing and turning one kiss into something more, and now you're trying to throw it in my face because you know how I feel about her too."

"Woah there, Jake," I said, trying to intercede the "Edward Cullen and Jacob Black" scenario beginning to build right before my eyes. "It's a little much for me to take too. I mean, I get that divinity is this all mighty force, and without it we'd all be dead and blah-blah-blah, but I know what you mean," I said honestly with a smile before moving to stand right in front of Jake. "It's a little too romance novel for me as well, but does that even sound like the Elijah you know? I doubt he can lie," I said, waiting for his response and hoping that if I still saw his side while bringing up Elijah's do-gooder character, it might help him find a little reason.

Jake sighed, running a hand through his hair before Elijah began to speak. "I would never intentionally hurt someone I have come to consider a friend, Jake. Having said that, it is not required among friends to always agree." Elijah was smiling now, and I turned to Jake, who seemed to be relaxing from his testosterone tantrum over Addisyn. "Moreover it is better to discover some things through divinity on our own rather than simply trust another's words regarding it."

With a nod, Jake seemed to at least agree to that. "You should be a diplomat," I said to Elijah, nudging his shoulder.

He chuckled softly before speaking to each of us, his voice now loud enough for John to hear again. "Addisyn will be our way out of this. I know it to be true."

Jake's lips turned upward into a soft smile. "Now that I can agree on," he started out. "She's one heck of a woman, eh." He laughed to himself. "Fairy woman?"

With a snort, I was about to speak when the entrance to our cell was violently ripped open.

"What is this I see? Happy prisoners?" the guard said. His voice was unpleasant and his face even more so as he smiled creepily in my direction. His teeth were stained yellow, and the oils in his hair could have fried chicken, making me wish I never let myself go to that degree. Creating a dark sword, the guard moved toward me before both Jake and Elijah blocked his path. I heard Aasim neigh and shuffle his legs, drawing my attention for a moment before I glanced back at the guard. At first he seemed surprised at their actions but quickly recovered before speaking. "Move, or I order the Pegasus to be killed."

"No, don't!" I yelled. I wasn't about to let Aasim get hurt. I didn't even want to think what that would do to Addisyn, and she didn't need that kind of pain when she had so much on her plate.

With a twisted grin, the jerk knew he'd won before shoving Elijah and Jake out of the way. Staring me down, I did the same to him, putting on my best poker face. I didn't know what he wanted with me, but I knew I wasn't about to let him see how insanely scared I felt.

"You think you are strong?" he said mockingly, and his words were just enough to send me over the edge.

"I think a lot of things. Like right now, I keep thinking how badly you need a bath." As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted it. Even more so when he grabbed a handful of my hair and began dragging me from the cell.

John tried to rise to his feet and shouted for the guard to take him instead as Elijah and Jake fought to tear him away from me. Jake landed a decent punch to his face, making him stumble back, while Elijah pulled me behind me. That was when three more guards rushed to our cell with dark swords. I watched them swing their weapons angrily at them both while Elijah and Jake dodged them almost too easily, like divinity guided their every move, turning them into martial arts experts.

That was until a guard got around Elijah and drew a knife to my throat. "I will cut her open if you do not yield!" he hissed. Jake and Elijah were quick to raise their hands, and the guards shoved them to their knees while one hit Jake in the back of his head with the handle of his sword. Jake groaned, collapsing to the ground.

"Lashes for them both!" the guard who now gripped my hair snapped. "Perhaps then they will learn to submit when I enter their cell."

"They should be sent to the guillotine for their insolence!" one guard replied.

"Ahab has given strict orders that they remain alive," he answered, pulling me out of the cell. I looked to John, who was struggling to stay on his feet.

I winced as the pain in my scalp seemed to send electric shocks down my neck every time he tugged. "This one, I will lash myself." With another jerk of my hair, I gasped as he forced me to be inches from his lips. "Let us see if you still possess that fiery spirit when I bleed you."

Clenching my jaw, I fought through the pain to keep from whimpering. When he started dragging me away from my friends, John begged for them to take him, but it was useless. I wanted to believe Addisyn would get us out of there, but when I could no longer see them, that hope faded fast.